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Hand/Joint pain from playing a lot

zipzo

Smash Apprentice
Joined
Dec 7, 2018
Messages
87
Hey, I wanted to ask the community about their experience around hand/joint pain from playing a lot of Smash.

I haven't really played a Smash game in the sense of truly trying to improve competitively since very early melee days. Of course I've played all the Smash games but Ultimate was kind of my reprise to actually attempting to "git gud", so what I'm trying to say is that it's been a while since I've actually given this much time to playing Smash over all other games, and it does seem as though it's way more physically taxing than many other games I have ever played when I'm playing it that much.

I recently had an all-day Smash marathon where I was exclusively attempting to push rank and fought mostly high-level players the entire day. I've reached Elite with Zelda, and I'm sitting around 2.5+ million GSP.

I came away from that day with some actually kind of noticeable joint pain in my fingers/hand.

I use the GC controller to play, and I'll tell you that the most noticeable pain was in my right pointer finger digit, around the first bend joint from the top. This is kind of the joint area that puts pressure on the trigger to shield. After messing with the Switch Pro controller, the digital buttons of ZR compared to the triggers of the GC controller don't seem to tax me nearly as much, but post Smash-marathon day my right pointer-finger seriously hurt from hitting shield a lot that day.

Aside from that specific soft spot, there was just a general feeling of "overuse"-type pain around the entirety of hands, it's hard for me to exactly explain the type or pain or exactly what it stems from.

I didn't play at all the day after that marathon, but I've dabbled a little bit the following day after that day of rest, and while it's getting better, it's still not fully there yet. I'd like to think my body is telling me that the GC controller is a no-go...but I love the GC controller for smash, to me it's synonymous with Smash to be using that control scheme. I've seriously been shopping new controller options lately because of this but it's a pretty difficult move to make.

I saw the hori battle pad has the gamecube layout but digital trigger buttons. And of course there's always the Switch Pro but I've heard that the frames that wiring it adds are not insignificant. I'm also definitely interested in keeping my control "tourny legal" as I'm planning to get more invested in my local scene...so the hori pad is out since it has a turbo button on it, unless I can make it legal by surgically removing it? Also, I've seen some fuss over any sort of wireless control due to how sticky they are to their previously synced system, which causes issues at tournaments. Here's the hori pad for reference...



Anyways, that's enough blabbing...I think you get my issue/circumstance. Does anyone else have experience with hand/joint pain while playing Smash? Have you remedied it in any way, either changing how you play/press the buttons, changing controllers, or something else?

It could also be that I'm 30...and my hands aren't as...I dunno, young as other gamers. Maybe it's a non-factor but who knows.

Thanks guys.
 
Last edited:

Guybrush20X6

Creator of Lego Theory
Joined
May 22, 2012
Messages
15,882
NNID
Guybrush20X6
3DS FC
4253-3477-4804
Switch FC
SW-2140-7758-3904
Well I gave my self permanent problems in my left thumb with Smash 4. Ironically enough, the gamecube controller is one of the few I can work with. Smash 3DS, I'm in agony in minutes.

I've been considering getting a fight stick but the prices are too much, especially considering I have no clue if it'll work.
 

zipzo

Smash Apprentice
Joined
Dec 7, 2018
Messages
87
Well I gave my self permanent problems in my left thumb with Smash 4. Ironically enough, the gamecube controller is one of the few I can work with. Smash 3DS, I'm in agony in minutes.

I've been considering getting a fight stick but the prices are too much, especially considering I have no clue if it'll work.
That's actually so weird, as a vast majority of my Smash 4 play time is on the 3DS and I found it quite comfortable and even for long sessions I never had issues, beyond the initial phase of learning how to play Smash on such a minimal handheld-like control scheme

Human bodies are strange...
 

Guybrush20X6

Creator of Lego Theory
Joined
May 22, 2012
Messages
15,882
NNID
Guybrush20X6
3DS FC
4253-3477-4804
Switch FC
SW-2140-7758-3904
That's actually so weird, as a vast majority of my Smash 4 play time is on the 3DS and I found it quite comfortable and even for long sessions I never had issues, beyond the initial phase of learning how to play Smash on such a minimal handheld-like control scheme

Human bodies are strange...
I think it has something to do with hand size and positioning. The controller that gave me the problem in the first place was the WiiU game pad but it's my ability to play fast paced games on the 3DS that suffered the most.
 
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